These photos show the steps from malt to beer. Theywere taken on several days, mostly older. Today I use a electric pot that contains 20 litres.
But the basic recipe is always the same.


1. Here you find a bag of malt on the fermentation barrel.



2. Start the brewing: The malt is "mashed in" into the water.
 


3. The mash is slowly - 2 or 3 hours - warmed up to 172°F. By this the malt starch is converted into sugar. The white plate is useful for the "iodide test" which reveals if the malt starch was successfully converted to sugar.
 


4. Then the malt grains are filtered out. The liquid - i.e. unfermented beer - is named "wort".
 


5. The next step is to cook the wort and to add the hop. One half is added about 15 minutes after beginning, the other half about 10 minutes before end of cooknig.



6. After 90 minutes cooking is over. The wort is filtered again to separate it from the hop rests.
 


7. Now it's time to check the original gravity - by an areometer. It enables to estimate how much alcohol the beer will contain. If the wort is stronger than planned, add some hot water and check again.
 


8. The wort is cooled down as rapidly as possible - note the cooling device. Next the yeast is added - I prepared it in the white cup.



9. The yeast will ferment the wort in about one week. A thick layer of foam covers the next beer.
(It's a good example of an ecosystem: The yeast cells eat the malt sugar, produce alcohol and increase their number. It goes on and on, they will become more and more - and soon the party is over, a lack of sugar, instead everywhere this toxic alcohol. Sad but true: First they don't mind the future, then they croak in their own waste. Well, yeast cells are only human.)



10. That week is the time to clean the bottles. They will be brushed inside with a long brush and boiling water. If I don't know who drank from the bottles, they will also be sterilised in the stove at 270°F. In the end the cap is mounted again.



11. As soon as the foam will collaps and the taste becomes beery, it's time to fill the bottles. Straight from the barrel - the filling tube has a valve which opens when it touches the bottle's bottom.



12. OK, start the filling... (Well, sometimes I also fill up a glass to drink it here and now - but only sometimes, a fine taste will need one more month.)



13. Of course, so much stuff to be cleaned in the end - e.g. from yeast residues. The beer itself needs a month for a last fermentation. The pressure in the bottles must be checked, and reduced if necessary.



14. Save the best for last: The work is done, the wage is liquid. Cheers!